Flipkart vendors stockpile branded merch with an eye on big billion

Flipkart is looking to achieve its highest target from fashion category, about Rs 300 crore sale every day in this festive sale and also to crimp rival AmazonRasul Bailay | ET Bureau | Updated: September 21, 2017, 09:08 IST

Top vendors on Flipkart have purchased old season merchandise of several foreign fashion brands left, right and centre for the ecommerce marketplace’s Big Billion Days sale, a host of top brands said.

Flipkart is looking to achieve its highest target from fashion category — about Rs 300 crore sale every day — in this festive sale and also to crimp rival Amazon from having greater access to most of the discounted products in the market, trade insiders said.

“They are sweeping the market and are buying outright almost everything,” said a leading dealer of several global fashion labels who said RetailNet, a large vendor on Flipkart, is making most of those purchases. “This is the biggest inventory haul for them.

The idea is to sweep the market of any sharp priced merchandise and they have been buying like crazy,” the person said. Flipkart declined comment.

Major ecommerce platforms Flipkart, Paytm Mall, Snapdeal and ShopClues launched their festive sales on Wednesday while Amazon will kick-start its Great Indian Festival sale on Thursday. All these firms have announced eye-popping deals this year, after relatively subdued discounting for the last couple of years.

Alok Dubey, CEO, lifestyle brands, at Arvind Lifestyle Brands, said last year’s BBD was mostly focused on categories like electronics and mobile among others, but this year the country’s largest ecommerce marketplace is seeking to build its fashion segment as well. “They have been planning for the last six months,” he said. “They have been fairly aggressive in their approach in fashion this year and has accumulated a lot of stocks.”

Dubey said he heard that Flipkart is targeting about `300 crore sale a day from fashion alone. “The kind of target they have set for themselves for fashion, if they are able to achieve those targets, would be unbelievable,” he said. Arvind Lifestyle Brands markets a raft of international labels including Gap, Aeropostale, Gant and US Polo.

Dubey said the firm has only sold old merchandise on discounts. Chief executive of a global fashion giant said order for Flipkart’s Big Billion Days (BBD) for his firm has doubled year on year this time. Head of one of Flipkart’s logistics partners said the company targets to triple overall revenues from the BBD this year to almost Rs 10,000 crore. The person said he saw more than 100 trucks unloading stuff at one of the company’s largest warehouses, while the number of trucks in any other sale season is about 20.

Flipkart’s closest rival Amazon.in is equally upbeat about the fashion category in its Great Indian Festival.